It was the Bulls' first game at home following a 1-5 trip while the circus took over the United Center for two weeks. The Bulls lost for the first time at home after winning five in a row and now have dropped six of seven.

They have won only once since point guard Derrick Rose was lost for the season with a tear in the meniscus in his right knee.

"Right now a lot of things aren't going our way," Deng said. "We have to stick with it and keep fighting and keep working hard. It's not going to turn around by itself. We have to make it happen. We're losing a lot of close games right now. It's something we have to get better with. Individually, I have to get better at making plays at the end of the game.

"This was a tough one, coming back from a trip. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't tired out there. I was tired. A lot of guys were. Our team and their team; they had a back-to-back. We made a lot of fatigue and mental mistakes at the end."

In the first overtime, the teams traded one-point leads for nearly three minutes before Deng's drive gave the Bulls a 109-106 advantage with 2:08 left. The Bulls then got consecutive defensive stops and had two chances to stretch the lead but couldn't convert. Gordon then hit a 3-pointer with 10.2 seconds to go, tying it at 109 and forcing a second OT.

In double overtime, the Bulls rallied from a 118-113 deficit, taking advantage of New Orleans' mistakes and tying it at 122 on Deng's drive with 4.7 seconds to go.

The Bulls jumped on top in the third overtime, but the Pelicans rallied and took a 127-126 edge on Anderson's 3-pointer with 1:08 to go. Noah's basket evened it at 128, setting up Holiday.

"We're beat," Williams said. "When you put your heart and soul into a game like that and guys come through, it just takes a lot out of you. I'm so proud of the way we won, coming off a back-to-back against one of the best defenses in the NBA, to be able to produce."

Game notes
For the second straight season, Pelicans center Anthony Davis -- the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft -- missed the team's only visit to his hometown. The 6-foot-10 big man broke his left hand Sunday in New York and is out indefinitely. Last season, Davis was held out with a mild concussion. "One of the first things he said to me when I got back in the locker room was, 'Two years in a row,'" Williams said. "Took me a minute to realize what he was talking about. He just really wanted to play here. I feel bad for him." ... Rose, who had surgery a week ago, didn't attend the Bulls' first home game since the injury. "I've been talking to him," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "He's doing fine."